Tsukikage Ran, Vol. 1: A Tale of Two Travelers (2002)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Takahiro Yoshimatsu
Voices by Reiko Yasuhara and Akemi Okamura
Character Designs by Hajime Watanabe
Music by Toshihiko Sahashi

Features:

• liner notes
  
• original commercials
  
• production art gallery
  
• English and Japanese audio
  
• English subtitles
  

Dindrane's Anime Warnings:

• excessively irritating character voices and mannerisms
• waaaaay too much of that demon sake
• pointless, frequent face-takes

Rating: 13+

Anamorphic: N/A

My Advice: Skip it.

Tsukikage Ran has a compelling premise, a spoof of the ronin samurai anime genre. Set in Tokugawa-era Japan, Ran is a female samurai with a rather strong fondness for sake and food. Myao/Meow is her sidekick--a martial artist out for adventure with a loud mouth and a big attitude. No matter how simple Ran wants her life to be, she just seems to draw problems.

Unfortunately, the plot and creation of the series simply doesn't live up the concept's potential. The only episode that's really fun to watch is "Suddenly, I Was a Mother," which does the best job of spoofing the wandering samurai genre, as well as developing the characters. In general, the show simply plays as a silly series meant for a much younger audience than could really appreciate the parody or understand the in-jokes.

The characters are at times amusing, but are in general too bland and just plain idiotic to really be funny, even in a slapstick way. Nothing Meow does ever makes any sense, and Ran goes from laid back and calm to frantic and stupid in a breath, with no reason given. If the spoof aspects are going to be subtle and not consistently played for laughs, then there should be some character development to fall back on and give people a reason to keep watching.

The features list is probably the best part of this disc. The liner notes are extensive and very informational. Be sure to read these before you view the episodes, and the show will make more sense. There's information about Edo-period Japan, as well as various other important things. The timeline is echoed on the disc's paper booklet, which also has an exhaustive credits list. There's also a conceptual art gallery, and as always, it's nice to see the characters in progress. The list of original commercials is kind of funny to see, but not as fascinating the other inclusions.

The audio and video quality were both good enough. The Japanese voices were a bit less irritating than the English voices, but the audio was crisp enough in either case (alas) to shatter glass. The animation is colorful, using a comical style. It's overall less attractive than some series, such as Fushigi Yugi or Ceres, but as a comedy, beauty isn't the primary concern.

In the end, Tsukikage Ran succeeds in being a parody, but it doesn't succeed in being a very good one. Neither witty, nor funny enough to be really effective, instead it's just kind of there. It is humorous in places, but less than you'd hope, and the non-funny places have nothing else going for them, like an interesting plot, brilliant art, or cool science fiction, or example. If future volumes do more with the idea of parody, or settle more firmly into the comedy genre, then Tsukikage Ran might be worth watching, but until then, skip it unless you're a completist fan of the ronin genre.